Intel has announced plans to rebrand Atom processors, giving the whole line-up a new naming scheme similar to Core series CPUs.

Atoms used in tablets and smartphones will now feature Atom x branding, so depending on the spec, they will end up with Atom x3, x5 or x7 branding.

We were never huge fans of Intel’s CPU branding, but the move makes sense, as it will make life easier for the average consumer, already familiar with Core branding.

However, just as it looked like Intel would harmonise branding across its huge CPU portfolio, it launched the Broadwell-based Core M, which features completely different branding, giving us something to complain about once again.

It is unclear when the new Atom brands will be applied, but upcoming Cherry Trail parts seem like a good place to start.

In addition to the 14nm Broadwell-U notebook chips announced earlier, Intel has also announced that it has started shipping 14nm Cherry Trail Atom architecture tablet chips to customers.

While it is good to hear that Intel has finally started to ship the successor to the Bay Trail SoC, these chips will most likely be available in actual products sometime in Q2 2015, or according to Intel, in the first half of the year. While Intel did not shed any light on the actual specifications of Cherry Trail SoCs, or the price, it did promise that all details will be unveiled once first Cherry Trail-based devices are announced, so we will keep our fingers crossed to see some first tablets at CES 2015.

For now, Intel only noted that the new architecture will bring improved graphics, improved performance as well as better battery life in both Android and Windows tablets. From earlier information we know that, beside being based on smaller 14nm node, Cherry Trail SoC will use the Airmont CPU architecture paired up with a cut-down Broadwell GPU and might even end up with 16 EUs, which should give it some impressive graphics performance.

Intel also noted that Cherry Trail can be paired with Intel XMM726x modem with Cat 6 LTE for cellular connectivity, which means that we might even see some smartphones based on these SoCs. It will also support Intel's RealSense technology as well as Wireless Display.

It was a tablet chip that enabled great design wins such as the affordable Asus T100TA and even in late 2014 Asus used the platform to create the EeeBook X205, a $199 netbook.

Both of these designs are based on Intel's Bay-Trail M processor, a year old 22nm quad-core processor based on the Silvermont design. Some machines that are coming with LTE, both netbooks and tablets and there will be new chip coming in 2015. It is called LTE Advanced XMM7360 chip and supports LTE Cat 10,3 CA up to 450 Mbits download and upload.

Intel will also offer Morrefield quad cores for machines with lower TDP ratings, especially tablets, and at some point in 2015 it will introduce its 14nm Airmont core based Cherry Trail processor. Cherry Trail based on 14nm Airmont core was originally expected in late 2014, but it got pushed towards middle of 2015.

Intel is clearly encountering more obstacles moving from the 22nm to the 14nm manufacturing process, but considering that most ARM competitors still have to start commercially shipping its 20nm SoCs in significant volumes, Intel still has a manufacturing node advantage. If only Intel had as many design wins to go along with its cutting edge fabs, as the company has been struggling to ship 40milion tablets in 2014, as promised.

Braxton will replace Cherry Trail in 2016. Braxton is a tock architecture, another 14nm design based on the quad-core Goldmont core. When it comes to the Performance Media Internet Device (MID) market Intel has another chip planned in 2016. It calls it SoFIA MID and the chip comes in intels 14nm manufacturing process.

Value and Entry markets for Media Internet Device (MID) and phones includes four new SoFIA parts, but with all these new and exciting chips Intel has to compete against some advanced chips coming on line in 2015, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 20nm, Nvidia Erista and more affordable Mediatek solutions such as the MT6795 A53-based octa-core and its successor.

Intel has reportedly shipped 15 million tablet parts in the first two quarters of the year and it is now stepping up cooperation with Taiwanese and Chinese vendors.

Digitimes reports the chipmaker is “aggressively cooperating” with tablet makers in an effort to ship 25 million parts in the second half of the year. Earlier this year we reported that Intel was playing hardball, expending vast amounts of money to promote its tablet SoCs.

Tablet market cooling down

One of the biggest problems faced by Intel is the relative maturity of the tablet markets. Tablets have become commoditised and since they are maturing product cycles are getting longer. This year tablet shipments could hit 200 million, with just 5 percent growth year-on-year.

Digitimes reports big players like Apple, Samsung and Asus could “suffer” due to the decline in demand. However, Intel focused much of its efforts on cheap, white-box tablets rather than high-end big brand products.

Intel has sweetened the deal by offering tablet makers technical assistance as well as marketing. The latter is crucial for many white-box outfits, as they usually do not excel at marketing. Intel does – the chipmaker has a huge network of industry veterans capable of selling anything from $99 tablets to $999 Extreme Edition chips.

White box churners are just part of the story

Crucially Intel has managed to attract a number of tier one vendors. A number of big brands have already released Intel-based tablets and others are working on them. The list includes heavyweights like Asus, Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and Sony.

Intel has already announced that more than 200 tablets based on its chips will launch this year and most of them will come from Chinese brands.

Intel has to make every chip count, as it is burning a lot of money to sell them. Earlier this year it was estimated that Intel averaged a $51 subsidy on each tablet shipped (contra revenue is the politically correct term nowadays – Intel doesn’t like to use the ‘S’ word).

Bay Trail is not an ideal part for entry level tablets and phablets. To make it competitive Intel has to spend way too much money, but SoFIA could change this next year. Intel hopes to seize 20 percent of the market with SoFIA parts. Bigger Cherry Trail 14nm chips will eventually replace Bay Trail and complement SoFIA in some market segments.

We expect some overlap between the two. SoFIA is a smartphone part, but it could end up in phablet designs as well as compact tablets with phone functionality, which are quite popular in Asia.

Sources close to the matter are telling us that the Broadwell chip that Intel CEO Brian Krzanich promised to ship before the holiday season might not be the real McCoy. As you can imagine chip development takes a lot of time and effort and shrinking the Haswell architecture from 22nm and turning it into Broadwell at 14nm is not as easy as it sounds.

14nm is hard to make

Let me remind you that Nvidia pushed Pascal and Parker FinFET chips beyond 2015 indicating that its long term partner TSMC is late with its 16nm manufacturing process where you can safely do FinFET transistors.

Intel is traditionally faster to transition to a new process thnn GlobalFoundries or TSMC. Intel has been manufacturing 22nm chips for a while and has committed to shipping Broadwell in time for the 2014 holiday season, but not in time for the back-to-school shopping spree.

The original Broadwell design that got pushed back had to be slimmed down in order to get better yields. This is what we heard from our sources. The chip will without a doubt end up better than all Haswell chips that you can buy today in the mobile space, but Intel had more ambitious plans that could not realise in time.

Skylake might come later

After Broadwell the next ‘tock’ is called Skylake. Skylake was originally supposed to come in 2015 and should be based on a new architecture, but with the Broadwell delay Intel might postpone the follow-on chip, too.

AMD is catching up with its Kaveri chips, but it doesn’t put nearly as much a pressure on Intel as it used to. AMD is on the right track and it might take back a slice of the mobile market from Intel as it can offer comparable performance and battery life at a lower price.

Intel is facing many other competitors that have embraced ARM architecture and Intel now practically competes with some of its huge customers. Apple and Samsung are both competitors and customers. Both companies have their in-house SoC designs and at the same time they buy Intel's technology for their non-mobile product portfolio.

Cherry Trail Atom 14nm

If the GlobalFoundries - Samsung alliance and TSMC get their act together they might be ready to produce at the same node as Intel, which might put enormous pressure on them. Intel now knows that whatever the competition is doing they are at least one node behind. However, this may change. If the GlobalFoundries alliance with Samsung, or TSMC for that matter, manage to ship 20nm chips in 2015, they will be much closer to catching up with Intel than ever before.

Intel's Bay Trail is one of the more interesting parts to emerge from Chipzilla labs in recent years. Sure, we love big cores, but Haswell and Ivy Bridge did not offer nearly the same performance gains compared to their predecessors.

Bay Trail reinvented the Atom line-up, which was neglected by Intel for years. It also brought Windows 8.1 to new form factors, namely compact and affordable tablets. The company has now announced Braswell, the 14nm successor to Bay Trail-M and Bay Trail-D parts. Cherry Trail will replace Bay Trail in the tablet space.

Braswell targets loads of form factors

It appears that Intel has big plans for Braswell, as the 14nm SoC is supposed to be used in compact desktops, all-in-ones, 2-in-1s and of course notebooks. Intel is promising "amazing" form factors and "new users experiences."

In essence, Braswell will enable vendors to develop smaller, fanless PCs. Even Bay Trail is good at that game, since there are already a number of 10W desktop parts that ship on passive boards. The production process lead allows Intel to offer lower TDPs than AMD in this segment. AMD's GPU lead is still there, but most Jaguar-based products can't hit 10W. The latest socketed AM1 parts are still at 25W and the stock cooler is active. Last year Intel made it clear that 14nm Airmont-based products will feature Broadwell graphics, but by then AMD will bump up its SoC iGPUs as well.

There is still no launch date, though. Intel says it will spruce up Bay Trail later this year, with faster graphics and better overall performance. This leads us to conclude that Braswell parts will be announced somewhat later, possibly towards the end of the year, with availability in early 2015. The first 14nm tablet parts are expected to ship in late 2014.

Market opportunities for Braswell/Cherry Trail

Intel hopes to see 14nm SoCs in just about every conceivable market and form factor. It is going after cheap notebooks (which it no longer calls netbooks), Chromebooks, affordable 2-in-1s, entry lever AIOs and more.

Last year Intel said it plans to ship 40 million tablet parts this year, but these are Bay Trail-T parts. The next generation should do even better and from the looks of things, Intel will blur the lines between a number of form factors, maybe even platforms, thanks to dual-OS devices. Since Intel is hoping to quadruple its SoC shipments with Bay Trail, if it maintains its aggressive approach through 2015, shipments of 14nm SoC could easily surpass 100 million units next year, if not more.

Interestingly, Intel also demoed a 64-bit version of Android 4.4 KitKat at IDF Shenzen. It has a fresh 64-bit Kernel and it will boost development. It might also give Intel a competitive edge in some niches, although most Braswell designs will probably ship with Windows 8.x - although dual OS devices remain a possibility.

Intel recently announced that it plans to ship 40 million tablet parts this year, so it is hardly surprising that it is planning to roll out a few more tablet parts, especially in the low-end segment.

According to a leaked OEM roadmap, picked up by CPU World, Intel will expand the Bay Trail-T line-up in both the high- and low-end.

The Z3775, Z3775E and Z3775D should end up somewhat faster than the currently available Z3770 and they will go after $200+ segment. The chips are expected to ship sometime in late Q1 and they will be used in Android and Windows products.

The Z3735D and Z3735E are designed for the $149 to $199 segment. They will be used in Windows and Android tablets, but there is no word on availability.

As for the Z3735F and Z3735G, they are aimed solely at Android tablets priced from $99 to $149. They should ship in late Q2 or early Q3.

Intel is expected to introduce next generation Cherry Trail SoCs by the end of the year.

Intel seems to be focusing on updates for tablet devices next year according to leaked details of Intel’s ‘road map’ plans for 2014. Among the products rumoured is the Intel Bay Trail-T Z3735D processor, said to be set for arrival in Q1 2014. We mentioned it earlier this week.

The 1.33GHz quad-core processor, which is estimated to cost around $32(£20), is said to be designed to be incorporated into seven and eight-inch tablets in the $99 (£60) to $199 (£121) range. The smartphone platform was also described by WCCFTech which is codenamed ‘Merrifield’, the Android-compatible platform is also predicted for a Q1 2014 release.

Another tablet-focused processor, the ‘Cherry Trail’, is claimed to be targeted at Android and Window 8.1 devices, and will support the 64-bit Airmont architecture. The roadmap said that this will appear in September 2014 release. ‘Willow Trail,’ which is similar to Cherry Trail, but is said to use the Goldmont architecture will be out at the same time.

The smartphone-based platform, codenamed ‘Moorefield’, is the last release detailed on the leaked road map. The platform is expected to replace Merrifield, and will target the same devices next year.

Intel is starting to take tablets quite seriously and it appears to be getting ready to enter new market segments. In essence, Intel is joining the race to the bottom.

According to Digitimes, Intel’s new Bay Trail-based Z3735D is designed for use in low-end tablets, namely 7-inch designs in the $99 to $129 price range and 8-inchers priced at $149 to $199. The chip and the first actually products based on it, should appear in the first quarter of 2014.

More powerful Bay Trail and Cherry Trail parts will target the $199 to $249 segment, as well as the high end segment, which Intel apparently describes as 10-inch tablets priced at more than $249. Merrifield and Moorefield will go after phone design wins come Q3 2014, but the chips can also be used in Android tablets.

Things will get really interesting with the launch of Cherry Trail in September 2014. Based on the new 14nm Airmont architecture, Cherry Trail is already looking like the most potent mobile chip ever designed by Intel.

The next generation desktop and mobile Atom is Cherry Trail in 14nm and the first parts are expected in late 2014. Intel has been working hard to accelerate the introduction of Atom parts based on the new architecture and in 2014 it will finally ship Broadwell notebook chips and Cherry Trail Atoms in the same year, both using the new 14nm node.

The Cherry View is a notebook SoC version of a chip based on new Airmont core, while Cherry Trail is the part meant for tablets. The phone version is based on Moorefield architecture and they are all expected to show up in late 2014, most likely very late Q3 2014.

The TDP should go down compared to Bay Trail platform as the new 14nm needs less voltage to hit the same speed and should produce less heat at the same time. With the 14nm shrink Intel’s new Atoms will be able to get more fanless design wins.

The significance of 14nm products for mobile phones and tablets will be in the fact that ARM alliance lead by Qualcomm, Samsung, MediaTek and a few other players will be struggling to get 20nm designs out of the door in 2014, and Intel can already get to a 14nm.

However, Intel still has to integrate LTE inside its mobile phone SoCs, which has traditionally been proven to be a tough task. At this time only Qualcomm has on-die LTE and its LTE enabled SoCs are under the bonnet of almost every significant ARM based high-end phone out there.

Only time will tell how successful Intel’s mobile push will be. Even with these 14nm parts, once they show up roughly a year from now, it might be really tough for Intel to get some high-volume design wins in the phone space, despite the transition to 14nm.